Diablo Cody Teams With Fake Empire for Fox Teen Drama 'Prodigy'

The ABC Studios project marks the first time Fox and Josh Schwartz have teamed since "The O.C." premiered a decade ago.

Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage's Fake Empire banner is back in business with Fox for a teen drama.

Oscar-winner Diablo Cody's Prodigy, which has received a script plus penalty commitment and hails from ABC Studios, marks the first time Fox and Fake Empire have teamed since The O.C. premiered a decade ago.

Cody (Juno) will write the script, which centers on a 16-year-old genius who through home schooling has been isolated from her peers. Hoping to experience a “normal” teen social life before she enters the adult world of academia, she enrolls in her local high school. Her experiment goes off the rails when she finds herself adopted by a wild crowd, getting caught up in a whirlwind of romance and crime.

Schwartz and Savage will executive produce the drama via their ABC Studios-based Fake Empire banner. This marks the fifth sale so far this development season. In the first year of their hefty overall deal with ABC Studios, the banner behind The CW's The Carrie Diaries and Hart of Dixie previously sold two dramas -- Rina Mimoun's Sisterland and Joshua Safran's Social Circle -- to ABC. Additionally, Fake Empire is pushing into comedy this season with two single-camera half-hours -- First Timers from Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger as well as an untitled project from The New Normal's Ali Alder -- which are also set up at ABC.

For Cody, Prodigy comes as she's prepping her TBS talk show pilot Me Time With Diablo Cody. On the feature side, the writer recently made her directorial debut with Mandate Pictures' Paradise, which she also penned. This marks Cody's latest small-screen venture following Showtime's United States of Tara. Last year, she developed comedy Alex + Amyfor ABC.

Schwartz, Savage and Fake Empire are repped by WME; Cody is with WME, MXN Entertainment and McKuin Frankel.